My chest tightened as the words left my mouth:
“Rue lives. But if Trent is not with you when you find him…you both die.”
The table fell silent.
Mom was the first to react. She gasped and pressed a shaking hand over her mouth.
Pops let out a strangled breath and stood to gather Mom into his arms, Grumpy jumping out of his seat to rush to her side.
Dad just sat there in shock, not saying a word. He’d searched for Rue for years and never found him. Suffering Ancestors knew what, at the hands of Selene, Ubel, and Trent.
That bastard, Trent—I couldn’t believe I was connected to the guy who caused my family so much pain. And now, the only way we got Rue back was through him? This had to be a damn joke.
Dad startled me out of my thoughts when he slammed a hand down on the table. “FuckingLee, my daughter isn’t going to go tofuckingTrent Storm for help. I’ll find Rue without him!”
My mother left the comfort of Grumpy and Pops and went to sit in his lap, holding his face in her hands. “Sly. Stop.”
He didn’t look at her. Couldn’t. His gaze stayed on me. “Reverie… Rue was the bravest of us. If he’s alive—if he’s trapped—” Dad’s voice broke for the first time since his return, even after everything he’d been through. “We get him back. But you won’t go it alone. I’ll drag Trent by the balls if I have to.”
Grumpy wiped a tired hand down his face. “Precognition or not… Lee wouldn’t have written this unless every other path led to losing both our daughter and our brother.”
My throat tightened. “I’m not sure I’m meant to bring anyone else with me.”
I barely had time to inhale before my men wentfullapocalypse.
“I have to goalone,” I repeated firmly.
And that was it.
That was the match.
Zane didn’t just drop his fork. He hurled it at the wall so hard it stuck in the stone like a tiny Excalibur.
“You think you’re walking up toTrent Stormby yourself?!” he shouted. “NO. No, you are not. I will physically hold you down until you change your mind!”
Nathan didn’t stand.
Nathan teleported beside me, wrapped his arm around my waist like I was a misbehaving child, and stormed toward the door.
“NATHA—”
“No talking,” he snapped.
Zeke didn’t say a word. Not one.
Then Zeke ripped his chair in half with his bare hands and muttered, “I’m so tired. So fuckingtiredof you being in danger! How the hell am I supposed to take care of you when everyfuckingbody keeps sending you into harm's way?”
I didn’t think he wanted me to answer that.
Oren and Jet were the scariest because both fell silent as they followed behind us to our room.
Nathan sat me down, and I was facing all five of them.
“NO.” Jet growled. “If you try to go to Trent without us, I will help Nathan tie you down. I’m done with being separated from you.”
Before I could share my opinion on this, Oren walked up to me and took my hand in his. “You say you need to go alone,” he absently stroked his long, elegant fingers over my knuckles. “And what I hear is you don’t want us.”
My stomach twisted. “Oren—no, that’s not?—”
